When I noticed the bricks in front of the litter boxes, my immediate thought was “I bet if she painted them or covered them in cloth, she could make a buttload of money selling them on the internet.” All they’d need is a fancy name and some testimonials like “The only litter box step good enough to be used by the rare diamond-bellied tuxie.”
Ha – I should totally do that! I keep thinking that I should cover those bricks with some batting and fabric, just so the kittens don’t bang their heads on the bricks and hurt themselves, but I’d need to make the cover be removable (so I could wash/sanitize it), and since my seamstress skills are extremely basic (sewing a straight line is a challenge for me), I haven’t done anything yet! One of these days, though…
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I’m glad to see Mary did not follow suit with half-sis Stevie’s sense of smug.
Give her time! Smugness doesn’t show up ’til 8 – 10 weeks of age.
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Paul has 4 white socks right??? SOOO CUTE..
He does! He is a dapper and well-dressed tuxie.
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Looks like Mary has stripes..
and
Are those secret tabby stripes we see lurking just under the fuzzy gray surface on Mary?
Mary does have faint stripes and swirls – I’m trying to get a good closeup picture of them, but she’s being less than cooperative.
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I am curious, how do you deal with dental hygiene for all of those cats? Do you take them in for teeth cleanings, or do you have some trick to keep their teeth healthy?
We add Pet Oral Hygiene Solution to their water, and also take them in for teeth cleaning when the vet mentions that they need it.
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Robyn, do those particular self-heating beds really get warm for the kitties? I bought one awhile back that’s supposed to be self-heating and has the reflective material built in, but I can’t see that it actually does anything. It’s furry and flat and my cats have no interest in it at all. They use regular oval cat beds on my desk and just sleep on the furniture in the living room and bedroom.
They do get nice and warm. They’re filled with that material that reflects their body heat back at them – they’re not warm when the cat first curls up, but if you put your hand underneath them once they’ve been there for a while, you’ll be able to feel how warm it is underneath. (To test it out for yourself, you could sit on the bed for a few minutes and see how it warms up!) I’d try moving the beds to the furniture where they sleep, and if that doesn’t pique their interest, I’d trying piling one bed on top of the other. It’s been my experience that cats can’t resist a pile o’ beds.
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Paul is openly outraged that his much smaller sister has him pinned down.
But she’s determined to keep his tux sparkling clean!
Peter in the sun. OH, those eyes!
Paul really likes hanging out on that scratcher, if you couldn’t tell.
Looks like Mary might take another pass at washing her brudder.
Or maybe she was just scaring him off so she could lay in it.
Peter wishes HE could have a turn on the scratcher. SIGH.
Mary just loves that mouse. And Peter’s head looks particularly huge from this angle!
I swear, I could just squish this boy.
I weighed the kittens yesterday. At 7 weeks old, they weigh 1 lb 9 ounces (Peter), 1 lb 10 ounces (Paul), and 1 lb 6 ounces. I would have guessed that Paul would outweigh Peter by more than that because he looks much bigger to me, but apparently it’s all just floof.
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Video! I call this one “skitterbugs” because it’s basically the kittens skittering at each other, hopping up in the air, jumping and running. Like the skitterbugs they are!
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Oh Tommy, you just get better lookin’ every single day! (Don’t tell Stinkerbelle I said that, I don’t need her coming after me.)
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Previously
2014: Ear cleanliness is important to Ferdinand.
2013: One thing I do know, though: I have zero control over the color that her kittens are, so I’ll take what she gives me and I’ll be grateful!
2012: “Ho hum, hanging out here in the air again.”
2011: No entry.
2010: Seriously, how ADORABLE were baby Sugarbutt and Tommy?
2009: Samba, running around like a wild thing.
2008: I realized yesterday that I never told y’all any of Joe Bob’s back story.
2007: I really think that seven cats is just too many for us to have on a permanent basis. Six really feels like the right number for us. (Oh, poor naive, silly, deluded 2007 Robyn.)
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Love the skitterbugs!
When Maggie, my gray cat, was a baby, she had secret tabby stripes like Mary. She mostly grew out of them, but in certain light, they’re still visible on her tail.
I just want to squeeze the stuffing out of these three!
Oh Skitterbugs! These three are adorable. I can’t decide which is my favorite, although I’m leaning toward Paul (which also happens to be my son’s name.)
PETER!
I want that cute diamond tuxie! Have a soft spor for tuxies as my first cat was a short haired tuxie when I was 7….
If I was in Huntsville I would snap him up in a heartbeat…
I am in love with Mary! So precious! I love the little sideways hops they do at that age. Best age ever.
Me too! She’s my favourite little nugget in this batch. So pretty but looks like she can totally hold her own with those boys!
Love the “skitterbugs”! Nothing cuter than kittens sproinging around without a care in the world.
Your babies are making me want more babies. We are between foster litters right now (the wonderful hubs like to take a “break” between fosters) and I’m missing babies.
I always think I want to take a break between fosters, but after 2 or 3 days, I’m dying to get new ones in that room!
Yeah…why? WHY when you can have BABIES????!!!!
I know, right? BABIES trump all the things. However, the wonderful hubby is pretty tolerant of all the other things 99% of the time so I let him take a short break before we start sneaking kittens into the house again. LOL.
Skitterbugs! I was humming jitterbug-type music the entire time I was watching them. I suspect I will be back to watch this several more times before the day is over! 😀
I was just thinking it should just be looped for about 60 minutes for the proper viewing length.
Re: brick covers. One word: velcro.
Yes, you’d still have to sew it on, but it’d be a lot less picky than a zipper or drawstring. And if you were suuuuuuper lazy (like me), you could simply tuck the ends (as in wrapping a package) beneath the velcroed parts, turn the seam side down, and presto-bingo, there’s yer removable-cover brick.
(Actually, if you were super-suuuuper lazy, you could just wrap the brick like a package, turn the seam side down, and count on the weight of the brick to hold the fabric in place. . . .)
Okay, so this is brilliant. I am definitely going to do the velcro, and I’m embarrassed that I never thought of that!!!
….or the snaps that come on a strip….
Also, I was told by a hateful man that if we adopted Joe Bob, I’d never be allowed to foster again, ever, so off Joe Bob goes [to the pet store].
Uh, yeah. So how’s that working out?
Hush, you. Also, I find it interesting that I was the one who wanted to keep him when he was a foster, but a year later Fred wanted so badly to adopt him that he actually drove out to the shelter to get him and bring him home (which is unlike him.)
I don’t know why Fred bothers putting on that tough guy façade….really…as it always goes crumbling off.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Is it me, or are you getting a lot of good head shots of these little dudes? Not that I mind, of course. They are ridiculously cute.
And yeah. Baby Sugarbutt and Baby Tommy were adorable. And look at them know, totally dreamy, *sigh*…
I love the skitterbugs! Being a kitten must be the best thing in the world.
I like your happy face plate.. 🙂 (not looking at the kittens.. nope.. not doing it.)
if you have any cloth napkins you can wrap the bricks like packages.